Celtic Maid (Roman Love ~ Pict Desire Series Book 2) (37 page)

Her heart leapt to her throat. She picked up her quiver and raced along the battlement. “Manas, bring more arrows!”

Alerio and Titus barreled onto the battlefield.

The gate thundered while slams from the battering ram shook the battlements. “Shoot the rammers!” Elspeth yelled.

“But they’re holding shields over their heads,” an archer said.

“Then drop stones on them,” Elspeth roared.

Before she could reload, Titus and Alerio barreled into the center of the battle. Manas handed her arrow after arrow until there were no more Romans in range left to shoot. Beside Greum, Titus fought with the strength of five men. Never before had Elspeth seen him wield his sword with such ferocity.

The ramming stopped.

Breaking through the lines of Roman foot soldiers, the Pict cavalry bellowed their war cries, and galloped toward high-ranking Romans at the edge of the forest. Titus spun his horse and raced for Dulcitius and his officers, roaring with his sword held over his head. A spear flew through the air and lodged in the shoulder of Titus’s mount. The horse fell.

Elspeth screamed.

Titus was too far for her range—for anyone’s range.

Greum pulled up his horse and circled back toward Titus.
Thank you, Brother.

Elspeth’s gaze shot to Dulcitius. A mighty line of Pict warriors thundered toward him. Dulcitius turned his horse and dropped his pennant. With his officers following, he galloped into the forest. Close behind, the Picts made chase.

We did it. We kept the Romans from breaching Dunpelder’s walls.

Elspeth ran to the tower and down the winding stairs. Not bothering with a saddle, she threw a bridle on Tessie and charged out the gate. Outside, bloodied bodies were strewn across the battlefield and horses without their mounts picked at the grass. While the rest of the Picts charged after Dulcitius and his men, Titus and Greum had dismounted. Standing nose-to-nose, they bellowed at each other, exchanging insults, waiving their swords like two cocks in a henhouse.

Elspeth leapt off Tessie, balled her fist and slammed her brother in the jaw. Greum staggered backward and then whipped around to face her, fire in his eyes.

Elspeth jutted out her chin. “Titus is me husband, and ye will no’ be tearing us apart.”

“I forbid—”

She slammed her finger into his sternum. “Ye forbid nothing. Only me husband has say over me now.”

She marched up to Titus, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Hard. When she looked at him he gave her a twisted grin, blood splattered across his face. “Good to see you too, Sprite.” With a determined nod, she shook her finger northward. “We’re riding to Raasay before they lock me in the tower again.”

Manas ran toward them, puffing and carrying her saddle.

She met him halfway and tugged it from his arms. “Thank ye, lad. How did ye ken I would be needing that straight away?”

“The queen set me to it.” Manas shot a guilty grimace toward Greum.

Elspeth secured the saddle and jumped on Tessie. Titus reached for a Roman horse grazing nearby and whistled for Alerio. “
Optio
!”

As they rode out of sight, Elspeth glanced over her shoulders. Greum’s shoulders sagged. Her heart squeezed. She didn’t want to leave things this way, but her brother had given them no other choice.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Titus took up the rear with Alerio in the lead. He hated to whisk Elspeth away from her home, but it must be done. An exiled man, there could be no turning back—no goodbyes. Gritting his teeth, he thanked the stars he’d easily claimed Elspeth without a fight. Though Greum wasn’t happy, the Pict had allowed them to ride away.

He glanced over his shoulder. If the Picts followed, they weren’t close.

Once they reached the Antonine Wall, Alerio turned his horse south.

“Hold up,” Titus yelled. Both Elspeth and Alerio reined their horses to a stop and faced him. Titus threw his thumb over his shoulder. “We’re heading north.”

“I need to fetch Seona first.”

“Hades’s fire, we never should have allowed that woman to take us in.”

“Who?” Elspeth asked.

Titus eyed Alerio. “A forest nymph who gave us shelter whilst we waited for Dulcitius.”

Alerio started south again. “I’m not leaving without her.”

Elspeth gaped after him. “He found a woman?”

“Yes, smitten within a few days.”

“Why not fetch her?”

Titus glanced back over their trail. “I could double back to ensure they’re not following us. Ride on with Alerio, and I’ll meet you at Seona’s hut.”

Elspeth steered Tessie in front of his path. “I think not.”

With his exile, it appeared he’d also lost command. “You are a difficult woman.”

“Aye, and I’ll not have my man riding off without me when I’ve only just found him again.”

“Do you think they’re following?”

“I doubt it. King Taran has more troublesome problems at the moment.” Her face flushed. “Aside from chasing Dulcitius, there’s a number of dead to bury.”

“And Greum, will he let you go?”

“Mayhap.” She spurred her horse toward the hill. “I expected him to catch up to us by now.”

Titus rode in beside her. “Will the Picts wage war on the wall?”

“Not straight away. They’ll chase that bastard to the edge of Goddodin, and if they don’t catch him, they’ll turn back.”

Titus considered this news while they crested the hill. He pulled the warhorse to a halt, and stared across the expanse of grassy green land that sprawled into Goddodin.

“He’s nay coming. I can feel it in me bones.” Elspeth stopped beside him. “Besides, if King Taran opts for war, the clans will be summoned from the north.”

Titus caught movement through the trees. “Organize them as they did during the conspiracy.” He grasped his sword as a deer stepped into the open.

Normally, Elspeth would have shot the stag for their dinner, but she didn’t move. “We fought against tyranny, and aye, the Picts would do it again.”

“I’d imagine no outsider will be safe in these parts.”

“I think not. The king will be posting spies for certain. If a single Roman crosses the wall, Dunpelder will know about it in the blink of an eye.”

Titus ran the reins through his hands. God, he missed Petronius. “Impressive.” Content no one followed behind, he grasped Elspeth’s hand. “I never want anyone to come between us again.”

****

When Titus led Elspeth to Seona’s hut, Alerio was following the girl around with his hands to his sides. She was stomping her feet, shaking her finger at the house and yelling at the top of her lungs as if speaking louder would help him understand her better.

Elspeth stopped her mare and gaped. “Heaven’s stars. She’s a witch.”

Titus glanced at her. “What the devil are you saying? Seona is a frightened waif. No more a witch than a marble statue of Medusa.”

Eyes round, Elspeth shook her head. “She bears the brand on her face.”

“I doubt that girl knows a word of sorcery. She’s barely surviving out her on her own.”

Elspeth rode in a bit closer and studied the blond-headed lass.

“Alerio,” Titus called. “We must ride.”

“Come with us.” The young man grasped his horse’s reins and gestured to the saddle. “You can ride with me.”

Seona saw Elspeth for the first time and launched into another round of hysterics. Elspeth held up her hand and calmly replied, nodding to Titus and then to Alerio.

Seona stood silent and stared at her.

Titus leaned toward Elspeth. “What did you say to her?”

“I told her we are going to a new land in the north—one uninhabited by superstitious fools. Her choice is to remain here alone or follow us, and we have no option but to ride now.”

“Where is she from?” Alerio asked.

Elspeth turned to the girl and they launched into a conversation of guttural sounds and clicks. Titus watched with his mouth agape. After Elspeth gave Seona a final nod, she turned to Titus. “She’s a Gale from the west. Branded and exiled by her clan because her ma was accused of practicing black magic.”

Titus eyed the girl. “I do not even want to ask what they did to her mother.”

“No, ye do not.” Elspeth flicked her wrist toward Seona.

Titus winked “She will fit right in with us. We’re all exiled aside from you.”

Elspeth held up a finger. “Ye forget I’m with child of Roman blood.”

Titus could never forget her condition. He wanted to tell her so, but the girl grasped Alerio’s hand and then ran into the hut.

“What is she doing?” Titus asked.

“She’s collecting a satchel of food. Then we ride.”

Epilogue

A year later

Without a guide, it had taken them a month of traversing rugged country and hiding from unfriendly barbarians before they reached Raasay. When they finally arrived, Titus opted to set up camp on the more verdant, southern end of the isle. And true to King Taran’s word, not a soul had laid claim to the land there. Fortunately, there were mule deer, rabbits and fish aplenty.

However, once they had arrived, summer’s heat quickly faded into frigid cold. Titus and Alerio put forth a herculean effort and built a wooden roundhouse while the women made mantles from deer and rabbit pelts. But the winter was colder than anything Titus had ever experienced.

Just when Titus thought he’d never feel warmth again, March came. With it, the ground turned from icy hard to a soggy bog. Storms blew a gale day and night, but Titus found renewed happiness in his heart.

On a particularly blustery night in March, Elspeth gave birth to Akira. Titus’s eyes welled with tears the first time he held the tiny bundle in his arms. The babe was the image of her mother—red hair, crystal clear blue eyes and a voice that could shake the tops of the tallest trees on the island. Elspeth endured the birth like a Pict soldier. And with Seona’s help, she was up and tending her chores the following day.

Seona and Alerio were wed in the same hand-fasting ceremony Elspeth had performed with Titus, and now Seona was expecting her first bairn in midsummer. Titus and Alerio had rowed across the sound and found a tribe with which to trade pelts for a few head of sheep. And now spring had come, they had plans to build a roundhouse for Alerio and Seona. And somehow, through Elspeth’s tutelage, they all managed to understand each other, speaking a mixture of Celtic and Latin, which was becoming more heavily sided with Celtic by the day.

Finally, with the month of May, Titus had shed his heavy furs. He and Alerio carted the last forty-foot log for the roundhouse to the building site. “I think the ground’s dry enough to hold the frame,” Titus said.

“Seona will be happy to hear it.”

Titus’s arms burned with the strain of the heavy log. “Let us make this the first support beam.”

Alerio smiled through gritted teeth. “Very well, and we shall have the frame complete by dusk.”

Titus grunted. “You’re becoming more ambitious every day.”

They set the log down with the narrowest end at the center of the dirt foundation they had prepared the previous day. Once they’d maneuvered the sixteen supports in place, they began the dangerous task of securing them at a forty-five degree angle. Titus had built a twelve-foot scaffold and stood atop it while Alerio and the women levered the branches up to him where he first lashed them together with dried sinew, which would be later reinforced with bowed crossbeams made from saplings.

“’Tis time for the evening meal,” Elspeth called as Titus secured the final beam in place.

He smiled down at her, his heart skipping a beat. Now Akira had been born, Elspeth looked more radiant than ever. “Good. I’m famished.”

A ram’s horn sounded from the shore. Titus glanced to his sword sitting at the base of the scaffolding. They’d gone so long without a threat, he’d left it on the ground.

Elspeth gasped.

Titus’s heart pummeled his chest as his gaze darted to the small boat. “Greum!”

Manas splashed out of the skiff and pulled it onto the stony beach. Greum hopped over the side without getting his feet wet. “I was wondering if we’d ever find ye.”

Elspeth broke into a run. Jumping down from scaffold, Titus followed. She dove into her brother’s outstretched arms. “I did no’ think I’d ever see ye again.”

He closed his eyes and kissed the top of her head. “I could not let ye haste away without making amends.”

“Aye,” Manas said, grinning at Titus. “Ye left afore King Taran could grant ye a pardon.”

Titus mussed the boy’s hair and shook Greum’s hand. “’Tis good to see you.”

Greum’s eyes widened. “So ye’re speaking like a Pict are ye?”

Elspeth took Titus’s hand. “Both he and Alerio are.”

“We’re trying, at the very least.” Titus gestured toward the roundhouse. “Come, we were just about to serve the evening meal.”

“Good thing.” Manas trotted ahead. “I’m starved.”

Greum chuckled and swatted Titus on the shoulder. “Some things never change.”

At the roundhouse, Titus made the introductions. “You’ve met Alerio.” He gestured to the lovely blond girl. “This is Seona, his wife.”

Greum looked at the scar on her face and hesitated.

“’Tis all right. She’s not to be feared,” Elspeth said.

Greum gave the girl a thin-lipped nod. “If ye’re a friend of me sister, then ye’re a friend of mine.”

Seona blushed crimson. “My thanks.”

Alerio shook his hand. “How was your journey?”

“Wet.” Greum rubbed his belly and looked to the cooking fire in the center of the room. “What’s that ye’ve got cooking?”

“Venison,” Seona said.

Akria stirred from a nap and let out a squeaky gurgle. Elspeth moved to the cradle, lined with sealskin that Titus had built during the long winter. “Are ye ready for yer evening meal as well,
mo neighean
?”

Greum stared. “Daughter?”

Elspeth cradled the bairn in her arms and turned. “Aye. Yer niece.”

Greum met her halfway, reached out his hand, but quickly pulled it back.